Email Hoaxes: How Spot Them, How To Check Them

Updated: Tuesday, July 15, 2008    by Robert Saunders, Skylark NetWorks

How To Spot A Hoax | Put An End To Hoaxes | Check The Facts
More Information | Recent Hoaxes | Partial Hoaxes

Have you ever received an email message warning you about "an undetectable new virus", "a new medical health risk", or "an email tax"?  Has that same email asked you to send it to everyone you know?  Immediately?

Of course you've received one of those emails.  But did you forward it, or did you delete it?

If you deleted it, you did the right thing.

Everyone receives one of these emails at one time or another, and some of us receive them regularly, but not many people check to see if the message is true.  We just assume it's true and send it along. After all, why would our friends try to mislead us?  I'm sure they wouldn't, but where did they get the information? Can the source be trusted?

How To Spot A Hoax

Who Wrote The Message?

You received the message from a friend, but did your friend write the message, or are they just forwarding the message from someone else? Forwarded messages often say "FWD:" in the subject line of the email message. If your friend just forwarded it, then you probably don't know who they got it from. Was their source trustworthy?

Furthermore, Microsoft, and the large antivirus firms of Symantec (Norton), and McAfee don't issue press notices or email alerts warning of virus threats. They do better than that. They release protective updates and patches direct to your computer via the Internet. Virus protection updates are released 4 to 16 times per day. Windows Updates are released every Tuesday evening. Read more about updates below under "More Information" and here on the Skylark NetWorks News Alerts page.

Don't Believe Unproven Claims

Chances are the email message included a sentence that says "This information comes from Microsoft and Norton" or "This has been confirmed by Snopes." But did you or your friend check to see if those companies or those web sites actually had anything to say on the subject?

Watch for CAPITALIZATION and Exclamation Points!!!!

Capitalization and the excessive use of exclamation points tend to make people panic, just a little bit for some, but a lot for others. And when people panic they're less likely to think. The use of all capital letters and exclamation points makes a person more likely to do what the message 'tells' them to do, and less likely to check it's validity. Hoaxers try to persuade people to act, not to think.

Grammatical and Spelling Errors

Many hoaxes contain many grammatical and spelling errors.  For example, look at this message which was a attributed to Microsoft, "... the antivirus software's are not capable of destroyin it." Possessive form for software? Where's the final 'g' on 'destroying'? A message claiming to be "direct from Microsoft" wouldn't have so many typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors.

Put An End To Hoaxes

Check The Facts

Next time you get an email message that warns you about some threat, and you're told to forward it to everyone you know: Check the facts. Even if the message mentions authoritative names like Microsoft, McAfee, Norton, Symantec, or Snopes: Check the facts. Several email hoaxes going around these days say "This has been confirmed." When I checked with the authorities named in the email, I found they had confirmed them as hoaxes.

Where To Check The Facts

Bookmark this page as one of your Favorites. Whenever you receive an email warning you of a threat, and asking you to send it to everyone you know, copy a short phrase from that email message, and put it into one of the search boxes below, then click search.

For best results use a phrase in quotations from the email message.  Some recent examples are "Life is beautiful", "Email tax", "Erases your hard drive", and "Olympic Torch".

More Information: Microsoft and Anti-Virus Updates

Microsoft doesn't send emails warning about these threats.  Instead they use their Windows Update System to send fixes or patches direct to your computer over the Internet every Tuesday evening. These patches are installed automatically to protect your computer from the latest threats. Windows Updates are not a substitute for antivirus protection.

For more information go to the Microsoft Update web page or contact Skylark NetWorks by phone or via the form at right.

McAfee and Symantec (the makers of Norton Anti-Virus) don't send email alerts either. They issue anti-virus updates over the Internet within a few hours of a new virus discovery. Like Windows Updates, anti-virus updates are sent directly to your computer over the Internet 4 to 16 times every day of the week. These updates install automatically. Just remember to renew your anti-virus subscriptions every year.

For more information about renewing your anti-virus subscriptions contact Skylark NetWorks by phone or via the form at right.

Recent Hoaxes I've Been Asked About

Here are some recent viruses I've been asked about from my newsletter subscribers. There are links to each of the virus and email hoax reporting centers at Snopes, McAfee, and Symantec (Norton).

• Life Is Beautiful: Snopes | Symantec | McAfee (Discovered January 2002)
• Olympic Torch: Snopes | Symantec | McAfee (February 2006)
• Johns Hopkins Cancer Memo: Snopes | Johns Hopkins (March 2007)
• Post Card Virus: Snopes | Symantec | McAfee (March 2001 & June 2007)
• Osama Hanged: Snopes | Symantec | McAfee (July 2004, hoax re-arises every year)

Partial Hoaxes

Here are some news items that are part true, part false. In the case of the UPS Waybill, the email message is fake, but the attached virus is real.

• UPS Waybill (July 15, 2008): There is a email circulating claiming to be from UPS. It isn't from UPS. The email claims a delivery was missed. The email has an attached "waybill for the shipment to be picked up." The attachment does contain a virus.
  Delete this message if you receive it, even though your up-to-date anti-virus will detect and remove the infection. More information is available at ups.com.
  As you know, UPS usually leaves a notice at your door in the vent of a missed delivery.

Don't know how to check your anti-virus status? Call Skylark NetWorks at (516) 874-7684 or (718) 312-7684, or email info@skylarknetworks.com to find out how, free of charge.

Not Hoaxes

Here are some items I've been asked about that weren't hoaxes. Where possible, I discuss how I determined they weren't hoaxes.

• Precautionary Advice for Cell Phone Usage. A legitimate memo sent by the University of Pittsburgh's Cancer Institute. Email is a message with no viral risk.
• CNN.com The Daily Top 10. Email is designed to look like a message from CNN.com, but it's not. The links connect to a phony site designed to look like CNN.com. A virus risk lurks on the site, but computers with up-to-date antivirus software are not at risk.
• FBI vs. Facebook. A variant of the message above.

This information is provided as a free service of Skylark NetWorks, Merrick, NY 11566.